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Rant: flying With TUI, has this happened to anyone?

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Rant: flying With TUI, has this happened to anyone?

Kelly G(783)

Posted on 13-06-2019 at 10.45PM

Apologies in advance, it's a long one.

I'm flying to Mexico next week with my husband and 2 year old (10hour flight) we booked last minute (5weeks before hand). When I looked at paying for/selecting our seats they wanted £17 each way for the adults and £8 for my LG. Scandalous after paying £2,500 for a holiday but I would have paid it, however there were no x3 seats sat together on the entire flight and no x2 seats together! So no way was I paying it, I naively assumed as a family, especially with a young child travelling long haul we would be sat together.

Nope... Fast forward to check in day and we are dotted round the plane. Going out isn't as bad, I'm on the end of a row of 3, husband on the end of another row of 3 and LG at the start of a row of 3 so there is an aisle between them but come one what 2year will willing sit next to x2 strangers away from one parent? I know she will be on one of our knees and if not I feel for those around us, she will kick off, how do I keep her in her seat on takeoff/landing/turbulence with an aisle between us?

Coming back is worse, husband and I are sat behind each other and LG is 3 rows away! I couldn't see her, she could be up and out of her seat and I wouldn't know, anything could happen. If she swapped with my husband and sat in front or behind me I still couldn't see her and keep an eye on her and again she is sat with strangers.

Tui just keep fobbing me off saying I should have pre booked seats and they will sort it out a check in. I couldn't pre book as above and since when has it become the norm to book seats when travelling together, it should be for priority boarding, extra leg room etc. I flew to Cyprus for my wedding with x19 members of my family with easyjet and we were all seated together no extra money required.

I am now a nervous wreck worrying, what happens if they can't assist at check in, I can't fly for 10hours not being being able to see my child or having to keep getting out of my seat to strap her in/shout at her to stay in hers.

Has this happened to anyone else, please tell me some good stories

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CarolineKa​te

Posted on 13-06-2019 at 10.49PM

That sounds awful but surely when someone sees your predicament they will be willing to swap seats with you at least for take off and landing where she has to be in a seat?

That sounds awful but surely when someone sees your predicament they will be willing to swap seats with you at least for take off and landing where she has to be in a seat?

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I'd like to think someone would but from reading reviews most don't a lot of couples travelling in twos so they won't want to be seperated. Happened when I went to Cuba, husband and I had an aisle between us but we coped, different story with a toddler, it's all hands.on deck!

I'm flying to Mexico next week with my husband and 2 year old (10hour flight) we booked last minute (5weeks before hand). When I looked at paying for/selecting our seats they wanted £17 each way for the adults and £8 for my LG. Scandalous after paying £2,500 for a holiday but I would have paid it, however there were no x3 seats sat together on the entire flight and no x2 seats together! So no way was I paying it, I naively assumed as a family, especially with a young child travelling long haul we would be sat together.

Nope... Fast forward to check in day and we are dotted round the plane. Going out isn't as bad, I'm on the end of a row of 3, husband on the end of another row of 3 and LG at the start of a row of 3 so there is an aisle between them but come one what 2year will willing sit next to x2 strangers away from one parent? I know she will be on one of our knees and if not I feel for those around us, she will kick off, how do I keep her in her seat on takeoff/landing/turbulence with an aisle between us?

Coming back is worse, husband and I are sat behind each other and LG is 3 rows away! I couldn't see her, she could be up and out of her seat and I wouldn't know, anything could happen. If she swapped with my husband and sat in front or behind me I still couldn't see her and keep an eye on her and again she is sat with strangers.

Tui just keep fobbing me off saying I should have pre booked seats and they will sort it out a check in. I couldn't pre book as above and since when has it become the norm to book seats when travelling together, it should be for priority boarding, extra leg room etc. I flew to Cyprus for my wedding with x19 members of my family with easyjet and we were all seated together no extra money required.

I am now a nervous wreck worrying, what happens if they can't assist at check in, I can't fly for 10hours not being being able to see my child or having to keep getting out of my seat to strap her in/shout at her to stay in hers.

Has this happened to anyone else, please tell me some good stories

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Kelly, don’t worry.Legally the airline is not allowed to separate a child from a parent under the age of 12. You or your husband will be sat with your child so don’t fret. Just to make you aware though that 2 isle seats next to each other are classed as “together” ! Good luck!Plus if anyone is decent enough they would swap with your husband so you can sit next to each other! X

Kelly, don’t worry.Legally the airline is not allowed to separate a child from a parent under the age of 12. You or your husband will be sat with your child so don’t fret. Just to make you aware though that 2 isle seats next to each other are classed as “together” ! Good luck!Plus if anyone is decent enough they would swap with your husband so you can sit next to each other! X

Thanks I really hope they do, it's putting a downer on the holiday when I should be looking forward to it. I really don't want to start the holiday refusing to sit down on the flight until my daughter is sat with me. Annoys me all this money making, can understand if you want more room etc but sitting with your family should be standard when booking flights/holidays.

Thanks I really hope they do, it's putting a downer on the holiday when I should be looking forward to it. I really don't want to start the holiday refusing to sit down on the flight until my daughter is sat with me. Annoys me all this money making, can understand if you want more room etc but sitting with your family should be standard when booking flights/holidays.

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I totally agree!But honestly you will be fine, I worked for Thomson/ first choice which is now TUI for a very long time. You will be ok, please don’t let it ruin your holiday! X

The chances are a couple might swap and sit in the seats 1 in front of the other so at least 2 of you can sit next to each other. If not then take them and sit your daughter in front of you. At least you can see and hear you .

I have swapped before to ensure a child could sit with its mum. The air stewardess weren't bothered but I could see the look on mums face ! I was with a group of lasses on a girlie holiday.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Netmums mobile app

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Collette A(16)

Posted on 13-06-2019 at 11.59PM

I don't have any advice, but I would swap so you could wot with your daughter even if it meant I was away from hubby. Not everyone is like that and most people will have a heart and help you sit with your daughter!

The chances are a couple might swap and sit in the seats 1 in front of the other so at least 2 of you can sit next to each other. If not then take them and sit your daughter in front of you. At least you can see and hear you .

I have swapped before to ensure a child could sit with its mum. The air stewardess weren't bothered but I could see the look on mums face ! I was with a group of lasses on a girlie holiday.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Netmums mobile app

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I agree, I would do the same and give up my seat. I honestly can't belive people/Airlines would allow it to happen. A lot of reviews/comments I have seen on questions like this have shocked me "well you should have paid" "everyone pays why are you different" "tough, lesson learnt" etc the world has gone mad, since when was it necessary to pay to ensure you are sat with your young child/children on a flight!? I have 5 brothers and sisters and we were never sat away from our parents on family holidays.

Worst case she will sit across from one of us with the aisle seperating us on the way out and in front of one of us coming back. She will kick off and be out of her seat constantly but what can I do?Hopefully tui swap us around at check in or we manage to convince people to feel for us and swap on board

I don't have any advice, but I would swap so you could wot with your daughter even if it meant I was away from hubby. Not everyone is like that and most people will have a heart and help you sit with your daughter!

I would do the same no way could I sit on a 10hour flight watching a child not being sat next to a parent. Hopefully I get people like you on the flight

Worst thing is in the prep up to the holiday we have been telling her she will sit in between us on the plane, she can watch a film then fall asleep on daddy's shoulder

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Miranda E(9)

Posted on 14-06-2019 at 9.36AM

Airlines like everyone else are about making money and unfortunately don't really seem to care about the people who are actually using their service. I had a lovely lady who changed seats so my daughter could sit next to me (my daughter was next to me but across the aisle). I was grateful and that was only a 2 hour flight.

With regards to what you told your daughter she'll probably be so excited she won't remember what you said, as long as she's with one of you. If you and your husband are say at end aisles couldn't one of you swap with your daughter? Know it's not quite the same but at least you can be with her.I'm positive they won't keep your seats the same. I'm sure at least one of you will end up with your daughter.

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Amanda P(606)

Posted on 14-06-2019 at 10.09AM

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has clear guidelines on what seat allocations are allowed.

From their website:Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.

I flew with them last week, we’d only booked it the day before so no chance of seats together. We went to check in desk and they asked us to go to the Tui desk and they changed our allocated seats so we were all sat in a row of three. No need to worry.

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sharon l(212)

Posted on 14-06-2019 at 12.44PM

We recently flew with TUI and I can honestly say we had a really good experience with them I'm so glad that I use them however I do agree with you on the seating plans that it should be a priority for families with very young children to be sat together I'm sure if you explained situation once you're on board the plane there are some decent people still around and I'm sure would be happy to swap seats so that you can all sit together as a family good luck and enjoy your holiday

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Eddy

Posted on 14-06-2019 at 2.50PM

I the way out I’m sure the cabin staff will move you about to make sure the child is sitting with one parent. I am actually surprised they sold you the holiday as it is.

On the way back, put £20 in the passport st check in and ask for an upgrade. I did this and it works.

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Helen S(1536)

Posted on 14-06-2019 at 6.05PM

If you aren't seated together, stand firm and insist they follow CAA regs. That way you might not be sat together exactly as you'd like but you won't be too far away from your child. My kids are older now so they love being seated away from us if they get the chance 😂

It's a tricky issue. Were there two seats together you could have booked so one sits with child and one takes a punt, so to speak?

Have to say I'm on the fence about giving up seats paid for to accommodate others. Hopefully it will come right for you.

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AprilM89

Posted on 14-06-2019 at 6.12PM

I agree you should all be seated together and you will be.

However, as you said, you booked late and all the seats will have been allocated before you booked meaning when you booked, you got the seats that were left.

They would have to get in touch with various passengers and rearrange them which might cause a bit of anger. However, on the day when the staff explain that there's a family with a young child needing seated together, there will single passengers or couples willing to move in order to get at least one of you seated next to your daughter.

I don't think there's anything they can do now or when you booked other than saying you simply couldn't book as there wasn't any seats together.

It's unfair that you have to pay to book certain seats but a lot of things in life are unfair that we all have to put up with and airlines simply do this to make more money basically

Please don’t worry, we recently had this issue and reassuringly received this response from TUI ...... on check in they were very understanding and re seated us without any fuss to make sure that a child was sat with an adult..... basically if other adults had paid to reserve seats they potentially could be moved and refunded due to regulations to accommodate children with an adult. Also found this on TUI website.